Ecclesiological relativism is the logical consequence of the popular anti-sacramental, neo-gnostic understanding of justification by faith that now appears to be dominant in American Christianity. It depends, in other words, on a heresy. According to this popular heresy, we are justified by our internal acts of assent and trust in Jesus, apart from the mediation of the Church. . . .

I strongly believe that the biggest problem within Christianity today is not the debate over Scripture's authority, or abortion, or the challenges of preaching in different cultural contexts, or homosexuality, or the role of women, or power sharing, or how to get traditional moral laws to speak to the unique condition of the modern world: the single biggest problem and the root of countless errors is flawed ecclesiology.